Classics

Jonas Grethlein

Antike und Identität

Die Herausforderungen der Altertumswissenschaften

[Antiquity and Identity. Current Challenges for Classical Studies.]

2022. VII, 94 pages.
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Published in German.
What is the significance of antiquity today? Does it contain the roots of our cultural identity or do Classical Studies have to be overhauled in the light of today's identity politics? Jonas Grethlein, Professor of Greek at Heidelberg University, shows the pitfalls of the concept of identity on both sides and reflects on how Greek and Roman antiquity can be made fruitful for the present.
There is currently a fierce debate about the discipline of Classics and the place of Greco-Roman antiquity in the present. While the advocates of identity politics especially in the US and the UK see the need to decolonize Classics, scholars in Germany and other European countries continue to turn to antiquity in search of the roots of their cultural identity. Jonas Grethlein shows that both positions are firmly embedded in different sociopolitical contexts and argues that in both cases the category of identity is less than helpful. It either narrows down antiquity narcissistically or overtaxes it normatively. Ancient Greek and Roman texts have lost their canonical status, and yet their reflexivity invites us to make them fruitful for a better understanding of the present.
Survey of contents
1. Wissenschaft zwischen Fakten und Identitäten
2. Die Kontroverse in Classics
2.1. Hintergründe
2.2. Ein neues Verständnis von Wissenschaft?
2.3. Die blinden Flecke der Identitätspolitik
2.4. Der Preis des vergessenen Historismus
3. Die Antike, ,das nächste Fremde'?
4. Reflexivität und Rezeption
Authors/Editors

Jonas Grethlein Geboren 1978; 1997–2002 Studium in Göttingen, Oxford und Freiburg; 2002 Promotion; 2003 Emmy-Noether-Programm; 2005 Habilitation; 2007 Assistant Professor an der University of California, Santa Barbara; seit 2008 Professor in Heidelberg; 2013–18 ERC Starting Grant; seit 2021 ordentliches Mitglied der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften.

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